Chapter 10 Silas
I watch as César Velarde struggles to make sense of his surroundings before hopping back onto my bike. Dust picks up, and he fades with it in my rearview mirror. Not my problem anymore. I’m not a religious man, but I know, somewhere, it is biblically encouraged to kill any man who touches your wife. Even death may not be enough for me to feel satisfied. They need to be tortured. Left in the middle of nowhere, with a missing finger and pumped with Xylazine.
Thalia will not be going on any more dates. I’ll make sure of that. Guilt is not an emotion I feel. Along with sympathy or compassion. Life has dealt me a hand that makes me keen to my own carnal urges. Urges that are led by lust and override any rational emotion. With that animalistic urge comes territorialism. Since the day I saw Thalia again, I knew she didn’t belong anywhere else but by my side. She is mine. I can’t walk away. Not this time. Not ever. Even the devil herself has a weakness, and I am willing to wage wars just to bring her to her knees.
I pull out my phone and check the live feed in her office. Her roasting of César’s sexual potency seemed worse than anything I had done to him. I listen in on the conversation as a violent green cloud takes form in my mind. Even if the sex wasn’t good, it was sex all the same. A part of her that he got to enjoy, even if she didn’t. Unamused with her descriptive recounting to her cousin, I shut the phone off. While she’s talking with the youngest of the Reyes siblings, I am on my way to meet with the older two. I’ve known Adan and Axel Reyes since we were kids. Their father is my father’s second in command and my godfather.
I start my bike and ride until I reach the construction site. I stop at the front entrance, where other members of Los Peregrinos are waiting with Axel and Adan. Axel is in a suit, and it’s the only way I can tell him apart from Adan, who opts for a black hoodie and sneakers.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” Cassiel says. He’s sitting on his bike, smoking a cigarette, while the other men are talking behind him.
“You’re one to talk, motherfucker,” I grumble before making my way to the construction site, where Axel and Adan are talking to Chucho Morales. When I enter the site, my men step in line behind me. Next to Chucho stands his son. I recognize the motherfucker from Thalia’s inner crew. He’s the same asshole who brought her home the night of her birthday party. I spare him, since he has no suspicious nickname in her phone.
“Ghost, this is Chucho and Osiel Morales,” Axel says, careful to use my street name. Ghost is the name I go by in this world. It keeps my identity out of the wrong mouths and my business operating without exposure to my leisure activities . Morales Construction was our best option when it came to finding a construction company that would turn a blind eye to said leisure activities.
“Ghost, right?” Osiel says, and I nod. I take his offered hand and shake it.
“That’s Leather Face out front, and this is Jasper, Nero, and Louie.” I point to each of my crew members as I introduce them to the two men.
None of the Arizona members had been thrilled about moving, but they are loyal to Cassiel and me. When we opted to take over Houston and move in on the Bandoleros territory, they were the first to volunteer. They were willing to wait for the new clubhouse to be built, and Axel found them jobs until we could recruit more members and traffic more guns.
Once Chucho is done going over the blueprint for the new clubhouse and the timeline of the construction, I walk back to my bike where the psycho fuck, Axel, waits for me.
“I never thought I’d see the day you would be back in Houston,” Axel says as he circles the back of my bike, a slow grin stretching his lips.
“?Que quieres güey?” I don’t have the patience for Axel’s mind-fucks today. I have to lead a cartel with this man the same way our fathers before us had worked together—one of us in the States, while the other oversees Tamaulipas.
“Don’t go looking for Thalia.” His face is stone cold, but the threat causes my teeth to clench.
“She’s already been found.” I offer him a hard smile, but he doesn’t back down. I mount my bike and pull up the black handkerchief over my nose and mouth.
“If I find out you’re the one sending her threats, I will end you, Silas.”
“No, Axel, if you get between me and what’s mine, then I will fucking end you.”
I rev my engine before I speed past him, and the others are behind me in minutes. I let the ride calm me like it always did. I don’t trust anyone like I trust these men. Axel is too unhinged to be a leader, and Adan is too loyal to Axel to even think about trusting him. I don’t think I can trust anyone, besides Cassiel, who had Consuelo blood running through them. Especially not the one that is consuming my every waking thought. I slow when I reach the office and pull out my phone.
Silas: Did you get my gift?
Diablita: You are one sick fuck.
Diablita: Where is César?
Diablita: Who are you and what do you want?
Silas: Ay, diablita.
Diablita: Don’t nickname me you sick fuck.
I am starting to come up with a variety of names for her.
Temptress. Seductress. Bruja.
Of all the names I give her, only one stands out. Mine. And she will be mine. The images of her grabbing her breasts, and the sounds that fell from her mouth as she pleasured herself, replay themselves. I’ve never felt as hard as I did watching her touch herself. I want to bring those sounds out of her. The maestro to the symphony of her cries.
I return to my office to find a custom Versace suit with a yellow vest. Halloween is a few weeks away, and I have a date with the devil.